Dallas police officer who shot neighbor fired by department

DALLAS — A Dallas police officer who fatally shot her neighbor inside his own apartment was fired Monday, the same day the man was being buried in his Caribbean homeland.

Police Chief U. Renee Hall dismissed Officer Amber Guyger during a hearing Monday, according to the Police Department. Guyger is charged with manslaughter in the Sept. 6 shooting that left 26-year-old Botham Jean dead, and she was fired because of her arrest, according to the department.

Court records show Guyger said she thought she had encountered a burglar inside her own home. She was arrested three days later and is currently out on bond.

A statement from police said an internal investigation concluded that on Sept. 9, Guyger, a four-year veteran of the force, “engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for Manslaughter.” Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell later said that when an officer has been arrested for a crime, “adverse conduct” is often cited in the officer’s termination.

Mitchell said that adverse conduct is “conduct which adversely affects the (morale) or efficiency of the Department or which has a tendency to adversely affect, lower, destroy public respect and confidence in the Department or officer.”

One of the attorneys for Jean’s family, Lee Merritt, said Jean was being buried Monday in St. Lucia.

The family’s attorneys, along with protesters, have been calling for Guyger to be fired since the shooting. In a statement, the attorneys said they see the termination as an initial victory.

“However, we are committed to seeing through the next steps of the process of a proper murder indictment, conviction and appropriate sentencing,” they said in the statement.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson has said the case will be presented to a grand jury, which could decide a more serious charge than manslaughter.

During a conference call with Jean’s parents and their lawyers on Sunday, Hall reported she intended to fire Guyger and explained the delay in the action, according to the family’s attorneys in their statement.

Days before the firing, Hall said in a statement that she had not taken action against Guyger because she did not want to interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation.

There are conflicting narratives over what led up to the shooting.

Guyger told investigators that she had just ended a shift when she returned in uniform to the South Side Flats apartment complex where she lived.